How You can Make Money With A Business Plan

 

You would be amazed at the number of business plan competitions that are available every year for African entrepreneurs and small business startups. Many of us don’t even know about them.

Business Plan competitions are usually sponsored by all kinds of local and international organizations to encourage small businesses and entrepreneurs with brilliant ideas.

Kenya’s Lorno Rutto is just one of many African entrepreneurs who raised startup capital by winning a business plan competition / entrepreneurship contest. 

In 2010, she quit her bank job to start a waste recycling business.

Her company, EcoPost, collects and recycles waste plastic into aesthetic, durable and environmentally-friendly fencing posts that serve as an alternative material to timber.

But her business would have remained a dream without the financial support of international and local investors and NGOs.

Every year, hundreds of international and local organizations support businesses that tackle issues such as environmental pollution, illiteracy, disease and other social problems. They usually provide grants, donations, loans, equity or even training and advice.

The problem is, many African entrepreneurs don’t know about these funding opportunities, and as a result they don’t apply.

So in 2010, Lorna applied for and won a Ksh.600,000 SEED Award which served as start-up capital for her business. In the same year, she won a grant award of Ksh.1.2 million from the Enablis Energy Globe-Safaricom Foundation.

She also won a business plan competition organized by the Cartier Women’s Initiative, and received a prize award of Ksh.1 million.

Recently, her business attracted an equity investment from the Blue Haven Initiative and the Opus Foundation amounting to Ksh.5 million. This was used to expand the business and purchase advanced recycling equipment.

There are hundreds of business plan competitions to choose from. 

To enter for these competitions is easy. First, you need to make sure you read the rules guiding the competition to confirm that you are eligible to enter the contest. Above all, your business plan must present your brilliant business idea in a simple, interesting and convincing format.